The present invention relates to a modulated storage system, especially applicable to the parking of vehicles. The system of the invention can also be used as a container storage system. In any case, the object to be stored will be deposited, for an unpredictable period of time, in the interior of a movable column or tower structure having therein various superimposed floors.
Within the parking or storage area there are provided a plurality of such columns.
The columns can be moved along the length and width of a column storage area.
Each column may be differentiated from the remaining columns, for example by numerical references which may be used by an automatic control system.
The floors of each column may also be identified with regard to the column to which they pertain.
Movement of the columns within the interior of the column storage area is achieved by any one of two systems of the invention. One such system is an overhead bridge crane which suspends and transports the columns therefrom. The other system is a power carriage movable along the floor of the storage area and including a pair of superimposed self-driving platforms. One platform is movable in one direction along tracks or rails in the floor of the storage area, and the other platform is movable in a transverse direction along tracks in the floor and on the first platform, the other platform being movable under and lifting the column.
The movements of the bridge crane or power carraige may be controlled by electric pulses which operate electromotors which drive the bridge crane or power carriage.
The objects to be stored, such as vehicles to which reference will be made exclusively throughout the following specification, may be introduced into and withdrawn from the columns by electromechanical devices, also activated by electric pulses.
The vehicles which enter a parking lot will first pass to a cargo hoist which is vertically movable between various floor positions. The distance between two successive floor positions of the cargo hoist is the same as that which separates two successive floors of the columns.
When a vehicle is positioned within the cargo hoist, the cargo hoist is then vertically moved until it faces a floor of a column which is free. The vehicle is then transferred from the cargo hoist to such column floor. The column will then be transported to a particular storage zone within the column storage area.
It is possible for the column into which a vehicle has been transferred to await the receipt of another or other vehicles before it is transported to the storage zone.
Withdrawal of vehicles from the parking storage area of the lot is achieved by performing the above steps inverse to the described order.
Conventional vehicle parking systems usually consist of two buildings, one situated in front of the other, which are formed by a number of open vertically spaced cells in which vehicles are housed. These structures are absolutely immovable and their positions are never altered. Between the two blocks of cells there is provided a lifting installation that may be displaced both vertically and horizontally. This particular installation displaces the vehicles from an entry access to a cell and from the cell to an exit access. Thus, conventional systems include the feature that the vehicles are guided to the structure or assembly of immovable parking cells by means of a movable installation.
On the other hand, the parking system of the present invention is based on the concept that the structures which enclose the parking cells are movable and collect the vehicles at the entrance by means of a horizontally immovable installation. In other words, according to the invention the vehicle storage space is brought to the automobile rather than having the automobile brought to the storage space.
One of the greatest disadvantages of conventional mechanical parking systems resides in that such conventional systems have a reduced capability for withdrawing vehicles during those hours when there is the greatest demand for vehicles to leave the parking lot. This shortcoming has not as yet been solved by conventional parking systems. This is particularly troublesome in public parking lots holding a great number of vehicles, since the demand for a second automobile to leave the parking lot requires that the driver of such second vehicle must wait until the transportation unit has completed the withdrawal of the first vehicle. This results both in discontinuous flow of vehicles and a cumulative waiting period. This unpleasant situation is frequently faced by customers which demand their vehicles at a time coinciding with the closing of shops, department stores, cinemas, theatres, etc.
However, the parking system of the invention provides a solution to the above problem, and achieves a steady vehicle flow both during entrance and withdrawal of vehicles. This is due to the fact that the structures forming the groups of parking cells, i.e. the columns, are movable. The columns can be displaced independently and in a continuous manner, so that the time needed to perform plural vehicle movements is not cumulative but rather is simultaneous. In those hours when there is a great demand for withdrawal of vehicles from the parking lot, the system of the invention can make use of a suitable computerized program that will increase the efficiency of the installation, since a given structure or column containing a number of vehicles desired to be withdrawn may be transported to a withdrawal position by only one displacement thereof. This would be possible because the program control could select, based on the accumulated demand at rush hours, those columns containing the greatest number of the vehicles to be withdrawn and/or those columns closest to the exit access. Also, the provision of the vertical movement achieved by the cargo hoist unit and the separate and independent horizontal displacement of the columns allows both the vertical movement device and the horizontal movement device to operate simultaneously on plural vehicles. Similarly, in view of the fact that the lifting device has positions or levels at heights equal to those of the cells of the column, it is possible to move the lift to a desired level while a particular vehicle is being moved to the lift, and to also employ the time used for lifting for moving a vehicle to or from the lift. It is also possible to withdraw or to receive vehicles, one after the other, at the reception area, in a short period of time since the mere movement of the lift between adjacent levels thereof is sufficient to either withdraw or receive a further vehicle.
The installation used in known mechanical parking systems for carrying the vehicles usually includes a lift or cargo hoist unit including mechanical means for displacing the vehicles, unless this operation is carried out by operators, or alternatively such mechanical means are arranged in the respective parking cells. Such carriers used for carrying vehicles from the cell to the lift and from the lift to the exit access have inherent shortcomings arising from mechanical complexity and high cost. Additionally, conventional parking systems include the disadvantage of requiring an impractically large area.
Despite the long period of time which has elapsed since the recognition of the existence of parking problems in modern cities, and despite the appearance of mechanical parking systems, such parking systems have not reliably solved the above problems. The mechanical systems presently known fail to attain the desired or at least sufficiently satisfactory results necessary to displace the conventional ramp parking systems, which have continued to be employed in view of the poor results achieved by presently known mechanical parking systems.
The mechanical parking system of the present invention however offers the improvement that it does not require expensive foundations which are necessary in conventional parking systems. Furthermore, the great mechanical simplicity of the present system causes the cost thereof to be at least 30% less than that of parking systems utilizing ramps, and also much less than that of known mechanical parking systems.